


Alive

by SummerStormFlower



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Death, F/M, Gen, Heartbreak, Hungry, Hurt and comfort, Mild language I guess, Nya swears once and it’s at Pixal, Poverty, living in hiding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 15:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20548370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Before the resistance is formed, Nya, Lloyd and Pixal grieve the deaths of the ninja and Master Wu.





	Alive

Nya never thought they’d be homeless. She had watched the Destiny’s Bounty get destroyed time and time again, but they’d always managed to repair it. And even when their ship was in pieces, they’d always had somewhere to go. They don’t this time. 

Lloyd erupts into an ugly coughing fit that makes Nya wince. They’re sitting in a back alley, lit up only by the flickering streetlights. They’ve been running from the Sons of Garmadon for three days and three nights. Running and hiding, then some more running and hiding. Lloyd had gotten sick somewhere in between. 

He shivers, the thin blanket over his shoulders failing to keep him warm. Nya puts her arm around him and pulls him close, giving him half of her own blanket. His forehead is hot, yet the rest of him is utterly freezing. 

Nya looks up at Pixal across from them. She frowns sympathetically at Lloyd, then gives Nya a sad look, which she returns. 

Six minutes later, Dareth comes back with bread, milk and Tylenol. 

“Sorry, this was all I could get,” he says, ripping the bread into four pieces. 

“It’s okay,” Nya reassures him, accepting the piece of bread he hands her gratefully. 

“I don’t need to eat,” Pixal says when Dareth holds one out to her, “Please give it to Lloyd.”

Lloyd coughs and shakes his head. “No. No, I can’t. I can’t stomach it.”

“You gotta eat, bud,” Dareth says gently. 

Lloyd shakes his head again, clearing his throat. “Just give me some Tylenol.”

Dareth hesitates and looks at Nya. 

“Fine,” Nya says, crawling over to their little box of belongings and searching for a spoon. “But you will eat something, Lloyd. You need to eat.” She finds a teaspoon and gives it to Dareth, settling beside Lloyd again. She rubs his cold hands between hers, breathing warm air on them. 

Dareth gives Lloyd two teaspoons of Tylenol. He swallows them both, grimacing in disgust, and coughing again. He squeezes his eyes tightly and shoves his face in Nya’s shoulder, as if that’ll get rid of his headache. 

One of the streetlight flickers and burns out. The cold nips at their skin. Pixal and Dareth share a blanket. Lloyd trembles and breathes through his mouth. Nya holds him tighter. 

Then Lloyd starts to sob, big wet tears falling down his face, inhaling painfully. “They’re dead!” he cries, sniffing loudly. 

Pixal drops her head in her hands, and Dareth places a hand on her shoulder. 

“They’re dead,” Lloyd repeats, his voice shaking, “and my dad’s evil, and she tricked me.”

Nya’s heart aches. For herself. For Pixal. For her baby brother. Her mind aches. Her bones ache. Her soul aches. She misses their friends. She misses their master. She misses her brother. 

She misses Jay. She misses Jay so much. 

But she still has Lloyd, and Pixal, and even Dareth. She still has her power, her strength, her life. She still has her spirit. 

Nya presses her cheek to Lloyd’s hair. “You still have me,” she whispers, “You won’t lose me. I swear.”

Lloyd chokes on a sob. “You can’t promise that.”

“Oh yes I can,” Nya says, squeezing Lloyd’s shoulder even tighter, “Because as long as I have you, I’m unbreakable.”

Because she’s going to protect Lloyd—her baby brother, the only brother she has left. As long as she has a way to fight, as long as she has a clear mind, she will always protect Lloyd. As long as her heart’s still beating and she has breath in her body, she will always protect Lloyd.  
_____________________________

The next morning when Nya awakes, there’s the smell of fish in the air, and the reds and pinks of the sunrise trickling across the sky. Lloyd is asleep beside her. Dareth has somehow flipped himself over in his sleep, his legs against the wall and his head laid on the ground.

Pixal is nowhere to be seen. 

She must’ve gone to get breakfast for them. Nya gets up, wanting to watch the sunrise on the dock. 

To her surprise, she finds Pixal standing there, watching the colours rise above the water, slowly lighting up the sky. Some fishermen are out, but not many. It’s very early. 

“Hey Pix,” Nya greets, going to stand next to her.

“Good morning, Nya,” Pixal responds, “Did you sleep well?”

Nya stretches her arms above her head, hearing her back pop, and wincing. “No,” she says, then turns back to her friend. “What about you?”

“I don’t need to sleep,” Pixal says. 

Pixal has always been a private person (except with Zane), but she’s never sounded more closed off before. It’s almost like she’s returned to the way she was before meeting Zane. Cold. Oblivious. Distant. 

They’re quiet for the little while. The sound of the waves and fishermen working is soothing. In a strange way, so is the smell of fish. Maybe because they know they’re safe near fish. The Sons of Garmadon haven’t looked for them here.

Yet. 

Nya glances at Pixal. The guarded expression on her face doesn’t belong there. “You can tell me how you’re feeling, Pix,” she tells her. 

Pixal frowns, but doesn’t take her gaze off the sunrise. “You seem to forget that I am a nindroid, Nya. I do not feel things, I process them,” she says. 

Her voice. Her tone. Her face. It’s all wrong. This isn’t the Pixal Nya knows. This is the shell of her. 

Nya grabs Pixal’s arm and yanks Pixal towards her. Pixal gasps. 

“Bullshit,” Nya spits, glaring. Then her eyes soften and she loosens her grip. “You have half of Zane’s heart inside you, Pixal. And you just lost him. Of course you can feel that.”

Pixal looks like she’s about to protest, but then her bottom lip quivers. Her eyes glaze over, her body stiffens, and she clutches Nya’s wrist. Nya pulls her into her arms. 

“I wish I couldn’t feel it,” she says shakily. 

Nya can’t help but picture Jay in her head. Jay’s smile, Jay’s freckles, Jay’s laugh. Her heart throbs. 

“I know,” she says quietly. 

She knows exactly how Pixal feels.  
_____________________________

When Nya goes to sleep the next night, she dreams. She dreams of Kai, and the blacksmith’s shop, and how he’s always looked out for her ever since she was little. She dreams of Master Wu stroking his white beard, as he speaks to her kindly. She dreams of Cole, and the way his eyes light up at the sight of cake, or when he’s proud of the way his drawing has turned out. Zane, and his pink apron, humming happily while he washes the dishes. 

Jay, and the way he blushed when Nya found the poetry he’d written about her. 

Then she wakes up. 

“Did I ever tell Jay I love him?” she asks.

Lloyd, beside her again, doesn’t respond right away. Then he takes her hand and says, “He knew.”

And she starts to cry.  
_____________________________

When they find only half of the destroyed Destiny’s Bounty and a Travellers’ Tea leaf, they’re filled with hope. Filled with belief. 

Pixal’s face glows with joy and relief. Lloyd grins, green eyes sparkling with happy tears. 

Nya smiles, her heart mending back together. Her soul feels like flowers. And the only thing she can think is,

They’re alive. 

They’re alive. 

Her big brother is alive. 

Jay is alive.

She’ll see Jay’s smile, and freckles, and hear his laugh again, because he will find a way back to her. They all will, and she’ll see all of them. 

She’ll tell Jay that he’s her star, her sun, her sky, her hero, the love of her life. 

Lloyd will hug their brothers—his big brothers who’re still alive—with all his might. 

Pixal will kiss Zane like there’s no tomorrow. 

They’ll see them again. All they have to do is wait. Wait, hold on, and fight. 

And they can fight again because they have a reason for fighting again.


End file.
